If you came looking for Apple Guardians, you found it! Only the site name has changed. All else stays the same. Welcome back.

October 3, 2012

Make a Game with Autumn Leaves

Old leaves can become a new game. Make an autumn obstacle
course.

What you need:

•a yard full of
leaves•rakes and bags

•3 bean bags (optional)

What you do:

1.Design your course.
Decide where you will build your course, what shape it will take, and what
obstacles you will include. Here are some obstacle ideas to get you started:

◦Pile of leaves to crawl through,

◦Bags of leaves to leap over,

◦Paper grocery bags that must be filled with leaves before
continuing on,

◦Stations where your child must find three bean bags (or
other objects) that are buried in a leaf pile, and

◦A huge pile of leaves to dive into as the grand finale.

2.Start raking. To make an obstacle course, you’ll need
leaves, lots of them. Give your child a small rake so he or she can help
collect the leaves you’ll need. Then arrange the leaves into the obstacle
course you designed earlier. (If you have two kids who want to race, make two
identical courses.)

3.Ready, set, go! Now it’s time to have fun. Race with your
child or referee two kids racing. Or time your child as he or she runs the
course. Change the obstacles to keep the fun going.

What you talk about:

1.Fall into the
season. Tell your child that autumn has another name – fall. Ask if he or she
can guess where the name came from. Explain that it refers to the time of year
when the leaves on some trees turn color and “fall” off.

2.Why do leaves change color? Explain to your child that
leaves are green because they contain chlorophyll, a substance that helps
plants make food. In fall, leaves stop making chlorophyll, and their green
color fades. That’s when other colors that were underneath—the beautiful yellows,
reds and oranges of fall—can show through. Ask your child to guess the most
common leaf color (Answer: yellow.)

3.Fall recycling. Help your child discover ways that nature
reuses old leaves. Overturn a bunch of leaves that have been on the ground for
a while. You’re likely to find insects and other creatures. That’s because
leaves provide these animals with food and shelter. Look for leaves from last
year, and show your child how the old leaves have begun to decay. Explain that
these old, rotten leaves enrich the soil, supplying food so other plants can
grow.

I'm a Master Naturalist and an outdoor enthusiast -- mostly kayaking, and I live on a Peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay. I'm the author of The Nature Fan, Nature Fan Activists, Green Earth Almanac, and Amanda's Geographic. Formerly, I ran the nationally syndicated column "National Green Activism" for The Examiner, and I was a key factor in the success of many campaigns. Make sure you don't miss a post, and subscribe by email! Thanks for reading.